Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits News and Updates

The Vaginal Mesh Helpline will continue to keep you updated on all the latest vaginal mesh lawsuit and vaginal mesh lawyer news.

The first federal vaginal mesh lawsuit is going to trial. A vaginal mesh victim is ready to take her case ti trial. Her symptoms and pain and suffering is not very different from yours. She joins the thousands of women filing vaginal mesh lawsuits and the 100’s we speak to. The stories are heart wrenching and so many sound the same.

In 2009, a mesh victim underwent surgery in Georgia to implant a vaginal mesh to solve a urinary incontinence problem. But, hope turned to horror as she began suffering from bleeding and pain during sex. She had to undergo another two surgeries to remove the mesh She and her husband sued the vaginal mesh manufacturer, C.R. Bard Inc., in 2011, claiming the company knew about the problems associated with its product but failed to adequately warn doctors. This story is not uncommon. Some are even worse.

This case is the first to go to trial of 1000’s of lawsuits filed over Prolene vaginal mesh implants. The cases are pending in multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston, W.Va. Goodwin will oversee this trial, which is scheduled to begin on Monday.

The various vaginal mesh manufacturers involved in these lawsuits include: Ethicon Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson; American Medical Systems Inc.; and Boston Scientific Corp. On August 6 of last year, Judge Goodwin received additional cases against Coloplast Corp. On June 11, a sixth MDL was opened against Cook Medical Inc.

The next status conference for all the MDL vaginal mesh lawsuits is scheduled for August 1.

Thousands more cases are also pending in state courts across the country, two of which have resulted in very large jury verdicts during the past year.

The Safety Warning Date Is The Key For Your Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit

The FDA issued a safety warning in 2011 that “serious complications associated with surgical mesh for transvaginal repair of POP are not rare,” referring to pelvic organ prolapse. The FDA had issued a public health notification about the products in 2008.The FDA asked manufacturers to submit additional studies of the safety and effectiveness of the products. Many lawyers are using the 2011 date as the day the clock starts ticking for your state’s statute of limitations. Many states with 2 year statutes will be closed the end of this month and the doors have already closed on the one year states.

Bard MDL Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit Update

First Group Of Bard Lawsuits For Mesh Removal Or Revision Surgery

Judge Goodwin has separated the Bard trials into groups based on the medical problems the devices were designed to treat. There are four trials in the first group, starting with the case noted above. All of these cases involve Bard’s Avaulta Plus or Avaulta Solo polypropylene mesh devices, used to treat pelvic organ prolapse. The vaginal mesh victims in all four cases allege they had to undergo revision surgeries to remove the vaginal mesh. The second trial, scheduled for July 29, involves a North Carolina woman, and a third, scheduled for August 19, was brought by a woman in Wisconsin. The fourth case, scheduled for trial on September 9, involves a Mississippi woman.

Second Group Of Bard Lawsuits Include Vaginal mesh Implanted For Stress Urinary Incontinence ( SUI )

“The Company intends to vigorously defend its Avaulta product at issue in that litigation, as well as in the subsequent trials,” Scott Lowry, vice president and treasurer of C.R. Bard, wrote in an emailed statement to the NLJ.“Surgical procedures using medical devices have known complications. Despite those known complications, the transvaginal mesh devices at issue have all been cleared by the FDA and have never been recalled. The FDA cleared the devices as safe and effective when used in accordance with their instructions. After considering the evidence presented, we believe the jury will find that Bard properly designed the device and also properly warned physicians of all known complications associated with the implantation of surgical mesh.”

It Appears That Certain Claimant Medical Conditions and Not Following Physician Directives Hurt Some Cases

In the case noted Bard won dismissal of some claims on summary judgment because the claimant

failed to provide enough evidence of a manufacturing defect.

Bard had provided adequate warnings about the device to her physician.

Obesity, and the claimants reluctance to take a prescribed cream after her implantation surgery, contributed to her problems.

These medical points are important and women need to be aware of them.

On June 4, Goodwin allowed Bard to put on evidence of Cisson’s obesity and failure to take a prescribed cream as a potential defense. This is worth noting. I am pointing this out to our mesh women who have filed and plan to file vaginal mesh lawsuits.

Vaginal Mesh Success Trials

A jury in Bakersfield, Calif., awarded a woman and her husband $5.5 million in damages on July 20. Christine Scott and her husband had alleged injuries against Bard caused by its Avaulta device.

Earlier this year,a jury in Atlantic City, N.J., awarded more than $11 million to a woman in South Dakota who had sued Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon unit after undergoing 18 operations in six years following implantation its Gynecare Prolift device. The award included $3.35 million in compensatory damages, issued on February 25 for failing to warn her surgeon about the risks, and $7.76 million in punitive damages, granted on February 28.

New Jersey Vaginal Mesh Trials Under Judge Carol Higbee

Atlantic County, N.J., Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee, who is overseeing the coordinated transvaginal mesh litigation in New Jersey state courts, has yet to rule on Johnson & Johnson’s motion for a new trial, said Slater, who is co-liaison counsel in the proceeding.

Judge Higbee also is overseeing a coordinated proceeding against Bard, which is based in Murray Hill, N.J., and has scheduled the first trial in that litigation for September 23.

In the federal litigation against Ethicon, both sides plan to submit bellwether selections by July 25.

And Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits Continue With More mesh litigation

At least two cases against American Medical Systems are scheduled to go to trial on December 3. On July 1, Judge Goodwin approved four cases as bellwethers, all involving women who had a transvaginal mesh device implanted for treatment of stress urinary incontinence. Goodwin, who has scheduled another round of cases involving treatment of pelvic organ prolapse for next year, ordered lawyers on both sides to submit a schedule for selecting those cases by July 12.

American Medical Systems, a unit of Endo Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc. in Chadds Ford, Pa., also faces litigation in state courts in Minnesota and Delaware, and Boston Scientific has cases pending in state court in Massachusetts.

Vaginal Mesh Bellwether Trials Begin

Goodwin plans to select five bellwether cases for trial in the federal litigation against Boston Scientific by August 8.

Coloplast vaginal Mesh Updates

The litigation against Coloplast, a division of Denmark’s Coloplast A.S., involves eight products, most of them bladder slings

Cook Medical Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits

Cook Medical, the latest company to be sued, has fought to differentiate itself from the other defendants in the litigation over mesh devices. Cook Medical’s devices are made from pig intestines, not a synthetic material.

“That’s a big deal because what happens with these synthetics that are typically made out of polypropylene or other plastic is they get hard, rigid, they erode into the tissue and can cause a woman—because these are repairs of the female anatomy—problems and pain,” Cook’s lawyer said. “It typically has to be surgically removed.”

The trials continue and women continue to suffer. Many cannot find a doctor to help them. We continue to watch and wait for justice.